


Homely

by gloomy



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: M/M, and the end is pure fluff, i havent written for game grumps before so this was quite the journey lmao, its not really angsty, mmmmhmmmm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 23:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5025613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloomy/pseuds/gloomy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ross is hopelessly in love with Barry, but doesn't want to admit it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homely

**Author's Note:**

> welp rip here i am... rubberdoop trash..

For Ross, falling in love was never an obvious journey, it took time and patience, and by the time Ross realizes he’s in love with Barry they’re on the verge of four years of friendship.

He hadn’t seen it coming. One minute he was sitting on the couch, staring at the screen in faux concentration, and the next he’s looking at Barry, studying him. His lips, his hair, his neck; Ross’ eyes travel lower. His hands, clutched tightly around the controller and maybe even lower-

Ross quickly wrenches his eyes away from his friend, feeling a little too familiar with the way that his heart pounds in his chest and his cheeks bunch up in heat.

He ignores every thought that comes after that, pushing it down into the depths of his person- bottling up his fear in favor of mindless rambling about the game they were playing.

Barry hasn’t noticed. Thank god, he seems to not understand, at least Ross doesn’t think so, but sometimes he can feel a calm gaze watching him, and it invokes a panic within him, causing him to babble an excuse- any excuse- in order to escape the room.

Barry doesn’t notice Ross’ feelings until he does, at 5:32 AM when Ross’ brain short-circuits and causes him to say something incredibly stupid.

“You know what, Barry?” He begins, words lazily tumbling out of his mouth, “You’re a good guy, I’d- I’d totally date you.”

Barry doesn’t show much of a response, raising an eyebrow with a small chuckle, “Hm? Really?”

“Yeah man, you’ve got the whole bear-dude thing going on- it’s kinda hot,” Ross continues, and is suddenly interjected by Barry cursing at the game.

“Fuck, dude, this is so hard, I can’t do this.”

Ross laughs at his friend’s tired look and glances at the timer, “Then maybe it’s time for next time on Steam Train?”

“Yeah,” Barry seems to agree, dragging a hand down his face and rubbing his beard absentmindedly, “See you guys later!”

Staying put on the couch, Ross watches Barry turn off the recording equipment, eyes languidly following his movements, observing his back moving about the room.

Ross doesn’t quite know when he fell asleep, but when Barry wakes him to offer him a ride home he grabs the arm on his shoulder and pulls downward forcibly, effectively pulling Barry onto the couch with him.

“Ross,” Barry complains, “It’s like 5:30 in the mornin’, we need sleep.”

And although Ross agrees, he doesn’t let go of Barry’s arm, instead throwing an arm over his torso and bringing him closer.

“Ross?”

Barry sounds a bit confused, Ross assumes that he wants to leave and tightens his grip slightly.

“Mmh?” He grunts in response.

“About what you said today-“

Ross’ eyes slam open, and he stares at the wall of plaid in front of him, he feels his heart jump into his throat quickly, pulsating there.

“What about it?” He tries not to sound defensive, but his voice shakes slightly.

“I just-“ Barry pauses, clears his throat and glances down, Ross can feel his gaze on the top of his head, “I’ve been… noticing some things, Ross,”

Ross feels his throat clench and fingers begin to shake.

“Like, you leaving the room when I come in…

Or like how you never look me in the eyes anymore and I just think-“

“You think _what_?” Ross interrupts Barry bitterly, turning around so that his back faces his friend.

“Ross, are you… are you in love with-“

“No _._ ” Ross pushes out the syllable forcefully, gnashing his teeth together. His heart pounds louder than it has ever before and he can hear Barry’s soft breathing and warm temperature against his shoulder. He buries his face into the couch cushion.

“Ross-“

“I said _no,_ now will you leave?” Ross knows he’s being cruel and can’t bring himself to care- this was his _friend_ , his _bud_ , he couldn’t just confess his disgusting affection for his best friend.

Barry sighs, and begins to get up from the couch, grabbing his jacket in the process.

“Listen, Ross, I’m…” He looks at Ross with gentle eyes; Ross just _knows_ it and can’t stand the kind gesture. “I’m here for you. If you need me, I mean.”

Ross thinks he’s fine, and he is, up until the sound of the door shutting clicks loudly and the hot, angry tears come up to his eyes, dripping onto the couch. He hates this. He hates feeling helpless and stupid, made fun of by his own emotions.

 But most of all, he’s tired, and he slips into a dreamless state almost immediately after the tears stop.

He wakes up at around 3 PM, and the sunlight that filters through the blinds is especially bright today, it seems. Ross raises a hand and rests the back of it on his forehead, groaning.

Stupid.  He was so stupid.

He could have just brushed it off instead of being an asshole. In fact, he probably had solidified Barry’s guess, and now Barry knows. He knows, and that probably means that Dan knows, which also then means that Arin knows. Great. 

Ross sits up on the couch and looks around the room, noting that a blanket has been added to his environment. So either Dan or Suzy are in the grump space currently.

Ross gives himself a few minutes to breathe and recede back into his confident self before getting up and heading towards the kitchen.

Hearing soft whispers from inside, he pauses outside of the door, hesitates to open it. But eventually the hole that was his stomach reminded him how hungry it was, and Ross pushes open the door to find both Dan and Barry in the room.

His stomach flips as he gives a nervous smile.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Dan grins at Ross. “How was your thousand year nap?”

Ross gives a more confident laugh. “It was great, thanks.” He turns to Barry, swallowing down his anxiety in favor of false confidence. “…and hey, sorry about last night. I was really cranky.”

Barry eyes him with suspicion, but nods nonetheless. “Nah man, it’s cool. I think I overstepped my bounds anyway.”

Dan glances between the two of them, confused.

“Did you guys have a spat?”

So Barry didn’t tell Dan.

“Nah,” Barry shrugs, “just a little misunderstanding.”

 “Well, alright then. As long as you two made up.” Dan sighs, glancing at the clock. “Grump sesh in two minutes, I’m going to go set everything up.”

“Okay,” Ross and Barry both chime in, watching Dan leave the room with two mugs, one for him and one presumably for Arin.

Once Danny has left, Ross busies himself with the coffee machine, grabbing his favorite mug out of the cabinet and pulling out the creamer.

He can feel Barry staring at his back, and the air seems to thicken.

 “Ross.” Barry calls his name, as if he expects Ross to respond. His movements become jerkier, and he silently curses at his hands to stop shaking.

“ _Ross._ ” Barry says once again, and Ross jumps at the tone of voice.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Can I ask you about last night?”

Ross stops completely, listening to his water boil in the kettle.

“…yeah sure, man. What do you want to know?”

Barry hesitates.

“Were you…. Were you telling the truth? About how…” Barry inhales deeply, seeming to steel himself, and Ross turns, staring at Barry dumbfounded. “I mean, maybe I was just projecting my ideals onto you and I’m sorry if that’s the case but I really thought-“

“Ideals?”

Barry nods, glancing away slightly.

“Ideals?” Ross doesn’t quite believe his ears, “Barry, do you…”

“Like you?” Barry interjects. “Yeah man, why else would I always want to hang out with you, it’s obvious that I like you.”

Ross closes his mouth.

“Like… as in like, a friend way?”

“No! I mean yeah,” Barry stumbles over his words slightly. “I mean yeah, dude, I like you as a friends but god, man, I like you as anything and everything else too.”

The water timer goes off, and Ross ignores it to stare like an idiot at his buddy.

“Jesus Barry,” Ross averts his gaze to the floor, “I-“

Barry laughs nervously, standing up from his crouched lean onto the countertop. “Nah, its cool, you don’t have to shoot me down; I get it.”

“No I’m not-“ Ross is still dumbfounded as Barry gets up. “Barry, wait!”

Lunging forward in order to stop Barry from leaving, Ross manages to grab Barry’s arm and halt his efforts to leave.

“Barry, I… Same. Same here, I mean. Ditto…”

Barry looks thoroughly amused as Ross stumbles over his words, face slowly turning a vibrant shade of red.

“I like you too, B.”

He finally manages to spit out the words, and Barry’s eyes light up, they crinkle at the edges and good god, that’s the nicest laugh Ross has ever heard.

After a good few seconds, Barry stops chuckling and wraps his arms around Ross’ waist.

“Is that your final answer, Ross?”

Ross nods slowly, leaning into him and circling his arms around his neck. He can feel Barry slowly rubbing circles into his side, running his fingers over his hipbone gently.

Barry’s face was close, a little too close; if Ross leaned up in the slightest, he could probably meet Barry’s lips full on. The observation crowds his mind, and once again the only thing on his mind is Barry’s lips, Barry’s face, how would it feel if he would just kiss him; would his beard be scratchy against his skin? Is Barry an aggressive kisser? Or is he gentle and soft?

Ross stares at Barry, entranced by the way he tilts his head slightly, as if waiting for Ross to make a move of his own.

“Well?” Barry murmurs, sending chills down Ross’ spine as he smiles, a quick tug of the lips. “Are you going to kiss me, or am I going to have to do all the work here?”

That’s all the encouragement that Ross needs, and he leans upward, meeting Barry’s lips softly, gently rubbing his thumbs on his cheeks, and man, kissing someone with a beard was weird. He smiles into the kiss and pulls away slightly, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

“About… earlier… I’m really sorry-”

“It’s alright man, I forgive you.”

Of course he does, but Ross continues nonetheless.

“It’s just that- I was really distracted and cranky and you were being so nice and I just- I’m sorry that I was an a-hole.”

“Nah, it’s cool.” Barry goes back to gently tapping and rubbing his hips, “I mean, I probably could’ve done that in a more… tactful way, y’know? I’m at fault too.”

Ross nods, facing Barry once again with a slow, lazy smile. Barry chuckles, reaching up with a hand to brush away the bangs framing Ross’ face, “Yeah, you still look pretty tired.”

“Hey, I didn’t even-“

And then the door opens, and Arin bursts in, seemingly about to yell about the game he and Dan were playing.

They stare, shell-shocked at each other in turn.

“Well uh,” Arin starts, pulling an impressed face. “’Sup guys? Nothing much. I see. Just some face on face action. Well, I’ll sure see you later!”

Arin leaves the room and about four seconds later they hear him slam open the door to the grump room.

“Oh my _god, Leigh Daniel Avidan-_ “

Barry laughs first, a nervous chuckle that grows into an outburst of laughter, and Ross joins in as well, leaning on the countertop for support as he crumples over.

The laughter fades out after a while, and Ross is left with a warm feeling in his stomach.

He glances down at their joined hands, wrapped loosely around one another, and then eeks upwards, towards Barry, who smiles in that way that Ross adores- eyes crinkled up and smile wide but soft.

He wonders what this makes them, but somehow Ross can’t bring himself to care about labels right in this moment.

All he can think about is the way that Barry’s thumb swipes across his hand, and the fuzziness Ross feels at this small act of affection. Barry seems to occupy every corner of his mind, and in doing so, fills his usually malcontented brain with thoughts of smiles and laughter, warm fillings inside of his head. Perhaps it was the safe feeling that Barry gave off, it made Ross wish to stay by him for the rest of time.

And maybe he would.

After all, home is where the heart sticks, and to Ross, Barry felt like home.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> if u leave me a message containing ur rubberdoop headcannon i will probably flip my shit (in a good way)


End file.
